Ubisoft 2004 Annual Report Download - page 7

5
UBISOFT > 2005 ANNUAL REPORT
selling over 2.5 million units despite a launch date
only a few days before the end of the fiscal year.
Iam confident in Ubisoft’s
capacity to be an industry
groundbreaker”
Looking back, what are you particularly
proud of?
This year solidified recognition of the quality of
our games. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos
Theory™ received an unprecedented record-
setting 9.9/10 from the Official Xbox®Magazine
(US). The Prince of Persia®brand has more than
30 awards to its credit. In addition, Ubisoft was
selected as the Best Developer of 2004 by the
UnitedKingdom’s Official Xbox®Magazine, and
the 2nd worldwidepublisher by Game Informer,
the top videogame magazine in the UnitedStates.
We also managed to generate a positive cash flow
of €50 million while increasing investments in our
studios by €20 million to create new brands
and prepare ourselves for the arrival of
next-generation consoles. This remarkable
achievement goes to show that Ubisoft can
continue to both grow and generate a significant
positivecash flow.
What contributed to the success of this year,
and do you think it can be repeated?
Our strategy has always been and continues to
be the creation of high quality products – in
our studios or with partners that share the
same philosophy – that will become strong
entertainment brands. A high quality product is
atitle that provides consumers with an
unforgettable gaming experience in a compelling
environment. This is the guiding principle
behind titles such as the latest installments of
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell®,Tom Clancy’s Ghost
Recon®,Silent Hunter®,and so on. With just one
episode, Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30™ has
already established itself as the ultimate
reference among World War II games. These
brands have contributed to our success this year
and will continue to do so in the years to come.
With eight established brands to your credit,
has your brand creation strategy changed?
We have succeeded in giving rise to universally
recognized, strong brands. Keen creative minds
work continuously on tuning these outstanding
brands so that they reflect new consumer
expectations. For example, I am certain that the
incredible work being done on the Xbox360™
version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced
Warfighter™ will certainly please both fans of the
series and new players. Of course, we still plan to
create three new brands every two years. This
year will seeus conquering new segments of the
market, with the releaseof And 1®Streetball
marking our entry into the sports arena, and the
resurrection of the Might & Magic®brand
allowing us to enter the RPG segment. And we
can’t forget Hollywood with the much-anticipated
Peter Jackson’s King Kong onlythe beginning of
our ambition to become a leader in license-based
titles, eventuallygenerating 15-20% of our sales
in a few years. Our goal is to increase the number
of multi-million unit-selling brands to 15 within
the next four years.
Next-generation console titles apparently
require even larger production teams. How
is Ubisoft preparing itself to meet that
challenge and pursue its strategy of internal
development?
We increasedour internal production capacity by
39% over the last year, and intend to recruit
600 talents annually over the years to come.
80% of these recruitments will be in Canada,
China and Romania. The new machines undeniably
INTERVIEW WITH YVES GUILLEMOT, CEO
THE GROUP 01
“